Rosemary and Rue is the first of 6 (so far) books concerning October Daye a ‘changeling’ (half fae and half human) woman and hero. She is the definite director of action in these novels and is accompanied by a varying cast of male and females each with their own unique powers and abilities. This is fast paced adventure style reading with very little time for deep thought. It is a fun series and worth the look.

Elena the protagonist is smart, driven, and likeable without the need to be perfect or reasonable on all occasions- she’s also a female werewolf. Armstrong never falls into the trap of the woman needing rescued- friends (male and female alike) may be on their way but Elena and all of Armstrong’s female protagonists rely on their own inner physical and mental stregnths to get them through just about anything.

This is book one of a very large wonderful series full of terrific women. Look for Otherworld Series.

The whole series, really. The main character, Miriam, is a strong, kick-ass heroine, without the book ever making her gender the reason for her awesomeness.

However, it also deals with gender issues (as one of many plot lines) – Miriam finds out she’s the long-lost heir to a massive fortune in a parallel world. A medieval-type world, and a family that firmly believes a woman’s role is to get married to the appropriate man and make babies to continue the family line.

Miriam shakes things up in brilliant ways that are nevertheless realistic, and don’t trivialise the struggles that she faces in dealing with scheming, power-hungry nobility that has no interest in changing it’s ways.

Let me just start off by saying: everything by Lois McMaster Bujold is feminist friendly. I chose the first novel of the Vorkosigan Saga to post but I could have chosen anything! Instead of telling you about this book specifically, I will tell you about the series.

McMaster Bujold creates a universe that is rife with differing opinions and ways of life, anywhere from the patriarchal, military-obsessed planet of Barrayar, to the post-feminist utopia of Beta Colony. Every person of every gender has their own strengths and weaknesses, and their interactions and adventures will stay with me.

There is feminist theory and clever critiques of society woven into the storylines of her books – to take some examples from the Vorkosigan Saga – how does a genius who is physically crippled learn to cope with living in a world that judges worth by military accomplishments? How far can the idea of designer DNA go? What changes would a device that replicates a uterus make to a society, and how would that change a woman’s place in the universe? When everyone around you is some kind of hero, how do you live under that limelight? What is life worth on a planet obsessed with being cryogenetically frozen, or where rich people may clone themselves, transplant their brains to live forever? How relevant is race when everything about you may be altered?

The characters within McMaster Bujold’s books are unforgettable, thoroughly three-dimensional and beautifully written. Within her books I have met a hermaphrodite spaceship captain, a man escaped from slavery who is grateful for everything around him, a woman who is a genetically altered supersoldier with little life left to her, a clone who struggles to find his own idenity, and countless others.

If Science-Fiction isn’t your thing (I thought it wasn’t my thing until I found the Vorkosigan Saga!) then I definitely recommend you try The Sharing Knife quartet. It is a fantasy romance, about a woman, Fawn, who ran away from her abusive family home. Pregnant with a child neither she nor it’s father wants, she is trying to reach a city where she can support herself and her child. A chance encounter with Dag, a man who fights Malices for a living, sets off a chain of events rather unexpected by all parties concerned…

The heroine, Kate Daniels is a strong warrior who relies only on herself out of necessity. This series sees her face a variety of dangers head on as she learns more about herself. The setting of these books includes a variety of characters of both genders, making their way in a tough environment.

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